Hello fans of the Resin!
Karen here with some more fun. So I apparently am obsessed with resin paper. Today I have a simple, fun project making resin book page dividers. Very versatile, you can make them ahead of time to create a bit of a stash so when you need one they are at the ready. One of the challenges with resin is the time it takes for the resin to cure. This solves that problem. Let's go!
Materials:
- EasyCast® Clear Casting Epoxy
- Mixing cups
- Stir stick
- Disposable gloves
- pieces of dish sponge
- craft sheet or parchment paper
- napkins, paper, cardstock
- Seth Apter die by Spellbinders
- Tab punch or die
- Cropodile or the Cinch
- scrapbook paper
Project Instructions:
First get your supplies ready so once the resin is mixed you are ready. I have noticed that often I have more resin made than paper ready, so you may want to have a nice stash of extra's in case that happens. Gather napkins, book paper, pretty card stock whatever you want to use. Napkins are one of my favorites as the patterns are great & they are perfect for this technique. I love the transparency which is achieved by peeling apart the napkin layers so all you are left with is one layer of pattern napkin. Hand Made papers are interesting as quite often they change color slightly.
Pour equal parts of resin & hardener in a cup & stir for 2 minutes.
Pour this mix into a new cup & stir with a new stick for 1 minute. For more instructions on use and trouble shooting see directions included in packaging.
Make sure to use gloves! Start with a piece of book paper or card stock to get used to the technique. Spread resin on back side of paper with the sponge, careful to fully cover paper. Cover front side and gently move to a piece of parchment paper to cure. Any bubbles should release naturally or you can pop them using a lighter carefully. Once you are used to the feel of covering the paper you are ready to move onto more delicate paper like napkins. I wanted mine to be translucent & thin enough that I could punch holes in the result so I did a medium coating. Let cure overnight. If you want a sturdier piece simply do a second coat of resin.
Here is my stash of resin paper. I have a large envelope & I keep all my resin pieces in it so if I want an embellishment or a piece to die cut I have it already on hand.
I took a few of my napkin pieces and made some book page dividers. The first was a USA napkin from July 4th. I added a thicker layer of resin so this piece has the weight of cardboard but the feel of plastic & it is translucent. I made a page for my art journal. I want to add in historic elements as I create to give my books a bit of a timeline. This can be events that impact me from the news or family events. The historic swim of Michael Phelps fills both, as my family gathered around throughout multiple Olympics to watch him shatter record after record. Truly one of the greatest athletes of all time. Taking my resin napkin I adhered my elements on top of it. The online photo of Phelps is amazing, one of my favorites & sadly I could not find the photographer to give credit as it came from a share site. I distressed the edges & adhered it to the cover. It was time for some embellishments, attached a tab & die cut colored circles and adhered them using glossy accents. After adding cork letters some resin was applied to the tab to give it that plastic strength. I love my new book page!!!
The page is transparent therefore the back must have the same embellishments. I added a Sports Illustrated cover photo in the same spot as my photo on the front. The rings still show through.
My 2nd napkin page is from a super cool wine napkin. After adding the resin it was too beautiful to add much so I simply added a tag with the date & a tab. This divider will go in my project life book. I added a wine bottle label on the back.
Here is my USA napkin on top of a few other art journal pages so you can see the transparency of it. I love this technique!! I can make cool napkin dividers for my planner, notebooks, or anything I need a divider. Makes a great gift for my crafty friends. I hope you try this technique as the results are so much fun!!